All I can really say is that it was great. The whole trip. Family, friends, boats and drinks. Good food too. I was sad the day we left. I mean sad in the way you feel when you were a kid and you’re parents were picking you up from a friends house after a sleep over. You’re tired and want to sleep in your own bed, but you don’t want to leave all the fun.

Anyways – here are the pictures.

We will be attending our first regatta. I can’t wait. The boat is in great shape and I am thrilled to get it out one last time this summer. I’m especially excited about seeing The Byers Boat out there as well.

We leave tomorrow morning.

Wow.

What a nice trip. Before we actually got going I was having nervous thoughts about the whole thing. Things going wrong cluttered my head. Would the suburban make the trip towing the boat? Would the boat even start? If it started would it run and not overheat?

You know – typical psycho babble.

But everything went off without a hitch. We left on Friday morning. The drive was not bad at all. I will say however that I get really tense when the wind picks up. The boat turns into a big kite. The climbing was not bad either – the suburban handled everything just fine. And to top it off I had my sister with us keeping the girls company!

First thing that happened was actually getting into Lake Powell. I had to pass the mussel check. Not so much a check as much a cleaning. The boat is now mussel free if it ever had mussels at all. It was a fun joke that day to tell everyone that the boat had no “muscles”.

As soon as we got everything into the room we launched the boat. Rolled down the long ramp, turned around, put her in the water and fired her up. Beautiful. Mom and Don were with us and this was their first ride on the boat. Uncle Don had the house boat out early and everyone was out having dinner. We called Uncle Don and he met us right outside the no wake buoy. What an awesome feeling. Me in my Campbell meeting Uncle Don in his. It was great. I was really, really proud.

Had dinner and then had to hustle back to beat sundown. Big day Saturday.

Quick note on my driving skills. I’m definitely better at putting the boat into dock slips. Up until this trip there were very few opportunities. Now it was every time in and out of the water. I finally got a hang of using reverse properly. There’s no backing up left or right – that’s a luxury for weaker boat owners. Reverse is only useful to slow you down. The trick as I had been told and discovered is to learn to spin to the left. That is, pin the wheel all the way to the right, reverse hard, pin the wheel all the way to the left and forward throttle. Doing this a few times and I can make the boat spin in one spot. Hell – I don’t know. It worked.

Saturday was great. Best of all – I worked up the courage to tow the girls on a tube. Madi and Nola had a blast. Cousin Taylor rode with them and made it fun for the both of them. Then I got to tow my sister. Ha! That was great. Dragging her ass around behind my boat was fun. Sitting around with everyone looking at the boats was also cool. I was very proud of my boat and it felt great to show it off. And to top it off we had a huge BBQ to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa’s 60th anniversary. Great food.

Sunday was totally bitter sweet. The weather was fantastic and we only had 5 hours. I spent a little time sitting with Grandpa talking about Campbell boats. He told me stories of the different boats he built and people he built them with.

I remember sitting there thinking that this was the first of many trips.

And the pictures.

We got the boat to Havasu for a nice weekend.

Man – it all worked out. Nothing wrong. Boat ran great. Weather was great. Beach was great. Kids were great. Hell, even I was great. We also got around the Bridge a bit and enjoyed Hawaiian Shave Ice. (Hawaiian is kind of a thing as you’ll see).

We lucked out and got Rachie’s Cove again. This is definitely our favorite spot. It’s tucked away on the CA side of the lake around the Family Coves area. Close enough to the bridge – but far enough too. It’s cornered in such a way that the waves break and then slowly drift to the beach. The trees are overgrown just enough to create a shade and the beach is long enough that the girls have a full 30 yards to play. The water was up this time (probably 10 feet I would guess). Lots of trees to tie the boat off too and no hidden trees or rocks underwater. As I said last year – it’s a wonderful place to be memorialized in.

And the wildlife. Wow. Jackasses, ducks and of course all colors of bugs.

A new thing we have created is the lunch mommy packs. This time was turkey sandwiches with Hawaiian rolls. Cut strawberries and blackberries. And Coors. Damn tasty.

Of course we ate at Mudsharks. However. Someone needs to let ownership know that “Up River” needs to be on tap from April to October. I don’t know who schedules this shit but they need to get it together. Twice now I’ve had to settle for other beer. No bueno.

Something else to note (mostly for myself): We will be getting a better camera. The iPhone is a kick ass phone but it doesn’t do the quality photos like I wish. All of these photos are from my iPhone. Last year we used our Olympus and I hated using it. Time to spend a little cheddar and get a quality camera. Too many good shots missed.

Pleasant was great. The boat ran really well. It gave us a little bit of a scare right off the trailer. It wouldn’t start and I think I might have flooded the carburetor a little. It eventually started but not before I started sweating.

After we got going I obsessed over the running temperature. It never got hotter than 165. The engine sounded great as well. No problems.

We didn’t get a beach – there aren’t many at Pleasant. We floated back and forth between a small island and some reef buoys. It was great. We had good friends with us and they own a boat as well. It was nice having a rescue boat in case anything happened. A number of times we started the boat and idled back out into the middle of the water.

I was happy the boat stopped/started so often. I’m starting to gain confidence in it again.

No pictures. I forgot my phone in the suburban. Which is OK. This trip was only about 5 hours and there wasn’t a lot to look at.

The best part of the trip (besides the boat doing so well) was my friends 1 year old son. He got tired about an hour after we got out on the water. His mommy settled him down and I made a quick bed in the bow of the boat. He slept under there for close to an hour. When he woke up he rolled up onto his butt and grinned from ear to ear. It was great. Reminded me of myself when I was younger, finding little spots on family boats to lay down and cover up. Hearing the water and the other boats rumble on the hull of your boat is quite soothing. Great memories.

Not very happy about it. It’s at Campbell right now getting looked at.

We had a great day on the water. Boat ran like a champ all the way up to the dam. Beached it all day. On the way home it ran hot. I turned it off and it dieseled for a bit, then I put it in reverse to stop it. I heard water boiling inside.

I’m sure the impeller went out again. The guys at Campbell are starting to suspect my water pump plumbing might be the problem. It’s a mix of hoses and pipes with a bunch of hose clamp connections. It may be restricting water flow or letting air in. Both bad circumstances.

Not sure I can keep doing this. We’ll see what they say after they look at it more. Right now though my thoughts are to get it fixed and running again then sell it. I can’t have my kids and wife stranded out on the boat every time we go out. I can’t wait with anxiety every time I turn the key praying and hoping it will start.

It’s a dream boat. It’s a damn beautiful boat. It runs great – really great – when it runs. One part. A cheap part totally ruins every trip.

I hate impellers right now.

I took a picture of all of the tags we got from Windsor this summer. I’m missing one for 7/25 – can’t seem to find it.

As you may recall, I got a jacket of Dads. I finally got around to taking some pictures of it. I wish I knew where or from who he got it.

What? Is there a book coming?

My mom has confronted me on a few occasions to tell me that she and my Aunt Lisa both believe I should write a book. What?

While I’m flattered (I think) I’m also not sure. I mean can I put together enough material for a book that has real chapters? Who knows. But I’m not going to sit around and let the idea get lost.

I’m going to start putting together my thoughts on a book. Right now I’m hoping I can fill it with more pictures than words. Ha! I think it can be cool. Looking back over this summer with the ups and downs (life and boat) I think there is definitely enough “words” to make a few chapters.

Start looking for more about this book idea around the middle of next summer. June 20th 2009 will mark the anniversary of the purchase of our boat and maybe we’ll celebrate it with a book signing!

Will I need a pen name for this?

I’m not going to drag my family out for the regatta. We’ve had a rough couple of weeks. Kimberly’s Grandma passed away last week and we just got back from Missouri for the service. 

The girls all have colds and it would be too much to travel all that way right now. It’s best if we stay home and get well. We need a quiet weekend for a change. 

I think we might get one more trip in before it’s too cold in the water. Might not be Havasu though.

Writing this makes me realize there is a “winter” and that the boat may sit in the garage for longer than 3 weeks without us getting out on it. Looking back I realize that since we have owned the boat (June 20th) we have been out on it at least every 3 weeks.

It makes me sad a little.

keep looking »

Recently Written

• 37th Annual Campbell Regatta
• Regatta Time
• Lake Powell 6/12 – 6/14
• Lake Havasu – 5/16
• New member to the Campbell Club
• Lake Pleasant – Good trip
• Lake Pleasant today
• Boat’s back
• Diegito
• The boat engine is fine – there is hope

Categories

• Boat Stories
• Book
• Lessons
• Maintenance
• News

Archives

• September 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008

Other Places

• Campbell Boat Owners
• Campbell Boats
• Clint’s Blog

Admin

• Log in

Search